Hello, my name is Ian Firkins and I am a very ordinary angler. If there was a school report for fishing, mine would read "tries hard, could do better"! See below my attempts to catch big fish (well, any fish!) of various species from the rivers Trent, Derwent, Dove and Soar.

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28/11/2014 - Short stay zedding

Got a bit stir crazy over the last week - constantly watching the weather forecast and the river levels. A planned trip to the Trent with my mate Tim was aborted after he got stuck in Kings Lynn with work. In the end I decided "you've got to be in it to win it" and threw the gear in the car for another short trip to the River Soar after work instead. Left the office at 1500 hrs on the dot and was at the venue 15 minutes later. The drive over the field was even more perilous than last time, the car sliding all over the place, so I stopped well short of the river. Was therefore nice and warm with the extra walk when I got to my swim to find the river coloured and higher than on any of my previous visits. Still looked good as the increased back eddy had formed a nice crease about two rod lengths out with a little slack on the inside. Soon had two rods out, one with the usual roach and the other with a pre-prepared section from the bloody end of a lamprey. Figured the extra scent trail created would give me an edge if the water was coloured. However, it was the roach that went first about 20 minutes after casting in. Wound down and pulled into a fish that gave a familiar kick. Sure enough, I soon had a reasonable zander on the surface and was just about to net it when.....yep, the hook pulled out! Bit of swearing and a fresh bait later the same rod went off once more. Again, wound down and pulled into a bigger fish. Thankfully this one stayed on, the size 6 Korum S3 lodged firmly in the scissors. Another zander, this one a right fatty and 7lb 9oz on the scales.

Fatty!

Was watching a Barn Owl hunting over the meadow on the far side of the river in the gathering gloom when something finally came knocking on the lamprey rod. Picked it up, letting the line run out between my fingers before winding down to ...nothing! Stayed for another hour into full darkness, but didn't have another sniff, so was back at the car a little over two hours after I arrived. Had something to think about when I got home. Have had plenty of action over the last four, short sessions, but 12 runs have only resulted in 7 hookups and 5 fish (four zander, one pike) on the bank. The two fish lost at the point of netting were particularly galling. Therefore decided to tie up some traces incorporating a small treble to try out next session.

Let's see how they like these

Much as I like the idea of my hair rigs in that a fish taking the bait has minimal contact with any metalwork, I also like the idea of more fish in the net, so we'll see if it makes a difference next time. As a postscript to the above, I came across another blog (jimmysfishing) that mentioned Mr Chub's occasional fondness for deadbaits. Made me think back to a pike session on the Trent near Newark ages ago where I was getting seemingly unmissable runs on lamprey. Eventually hooked a chub about 3lb, just snagged on the bottom treble and with the lamprey section sticking out of its mouth like a bit fat cigar. Could be that some of the runs I'm experiencing on the Soar are chub as well. We'll have to see.